3 week tour of Europe in a 5 year old EV :).
Discussion
Just got home from a 3 week, 2800 mile tour of 4 European countries, in our now 5 years old small battery Model X, carrying 6 people and their luggage.
All I can say is am amazed how easy it was, how well even an 'older' EV can manage such a road trip fully loaded, and where do we go year to better Norway??!!
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The driving highlights of the trip has to be the Atlantic highway with road to Kristiansund after, along with ofcourse Trollstigen which I went up and down 5 times.
The most memorable drive was again Trollstigen, but the ascending into it from the south, going from bright sun and ending up literally in the middle of the heavens with 10 meter visibility.
Overall Norway was simply spectacular, anyone who hasn't been needs to go.
We had zero issues with EV charging, used only the Tesla SC network, never had to queue, never missed a connecting ferry etc. The big bonus for us is the 'free for life' refuel costs at SC sites, really cannot complain about that with way electricity prices are heading up!
The utility of the X really astounded me, roof box's, even trailers were everywhere on the crossing. But 6 people + luggage for touring was swallowed up by the car with no issues.
We did France earlier this year with equal ease in EV travelling, and as a family we are pretty clear now future summer holidays in Europe via car is the way to go.
Back to the question of where to next year?? The car seems to think Lake Como is pretty easy to get too, with a few days in the Swiss Alps.....why not, but will it be better than Norway, I'll report back in 12 months.
All I can say is am amazed how easy it was, how well even an 'older' EV can manage such a road trip fully loaded, and where do we go year to better Norway??!!
.The driving highlights of the trip has to be the Atlantic highway with road to Kristiansund after, along with ofcourse Trollstigen which I went up and down 5 times.
The most memorable drive was again Trollstigen, but the ascending into it from the south, going from bright sun and ending up literally in the middle of the heavens with 10 meter visibility.
Overall Norway was simply spectacular, anyone who hasn't been needs to go.
We had zero issues with EV charging, used only the Tesla SC network, never had to queue, never missed a connecting ferry etc. The big bonus for us is the 'free for life' refuel costs at SC sites, really cannot complain about that with way electricity prices are heading up!
The utility of the X really astounded me, roof box's, even trailers were everywhere on the crossing. But 6 people + luggage for touring was swallowed up by the car with no issues.
We did France earlier this year with equal ease in EV travelling, and as a family we are pretty clear now future summer holidays in Europe via car is the way to go.
Back to the question of where to next year?? The car seems to think Lake Como is pretty easy to get too, with a few days in the Swiss Alps.....why not, but will it be better than Norway, I'll report back in 12 months
.ashenfie said:
Wonderful trip and we all know Tesla is a good 5 years ahead of the chasing pack. I have to say the the suggested petrol saving figures seam implausible.The cost of the petrol show would give you around 3000 miles while £21 of electric would get around 225 miles maybe less?
He has free supercharging. The £21 of electricity is home and “other” charging destinations.The cost to someone without free supercharging would be vastly different.
paradigital said:
ashenfie said:
Wonderful trip and we all know Tesla is a good 5 years ahead of the chasing pack. I have to say the the suggested petrol saving figures seam implausible.The cost of the petrol show would give you around 3000 miles while £21 of electric would get around 225 miles maybe less?
He has free supercharging. The £21 of electricity is home and “other” charging destinations.The cost to someone without free supercharging would be vastly different.
I'd guess that with a decent charging subscription it would be around £300 electric cost without the free charging. Still significant.
TheDeuce said:
That's a good point. But to the point I make above.. you couldn't do that trip for £700 petrol in such a large and powerful petrol car either. Whichever way you flip it, it's cheaper. Over 3000 miles electric is the easiest drive too.
I suspect money or fuel isn't an issue for most PHers when it come to cars, but I cannot deny having essentially 'free for life' with the car doesn't help.The driving bit is interesting, for all the rightly directed critique given to Elon Musks FSD promises, EAP did amazingly well on Mways across Europe. There was perhaps half a dozen phantom braking episodes over 3 weeks of driving, and the newly update software picked up 80% of speed limit changes across various countries.
Just at kids Karate, gave the car a quick hoover beforehand as there is a kids party transportation duties the weekend so the interior of the car needs to be half presentable.
Given the X was only the 2nd mass produced car Tesla made, and concerns about quality coming up often, given the life of our car (essentially the family hack) it's holding up better than our Lexus.
It's a shame there seems to be real chance the 'new' X may get culled in Europe according to some rumours, as the Y essentially can carry almost as much stuff (but not people).
As an all round family car, we absolutely love ours. After such a road trip it really is part of the family now, already looking fowards to Lake Camo next year
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I still think the X is cool as fook esp in white, I'd have one if it was available on lease, even if it is getting on a bit now. I too have gone from a lexus to a tesla (Y) recently and read scare stories about quality control, but so far it's spot on and screwed together just as well. Drivers seat not as comfy, but that just encourages me to get where I'm going quicker
Thank you for sharing. What an amazing road trip!
Thank you also for one important point. Having taking the plunge and ordered a model Y back in March, I’ve discovered that most EV forums out there, and YouTube clips etc, love their negativity of Tesla and the general proposition of converting to EV usage. Your post is a welcome change!
Thank you also for one important point. Having taking the plunge and ordered a model Y back in March, I’ve discovered that most EV forums out there, and YouTube clips etc, love their negativity of Tesla and the general proposition of converting to EV usage. Your post is a welcome change!
Great report and fantastic pics, I'd love to do that trip. I'm off for an 1800-2000mile trip next weekend, really looking forward to it, and the free supercharging!
Just need to remember I'm not in a YouTube video and to leave myself a little more buffer than I did on the trip to Le Mans this year.
Just need to remember I'm not in a YouTube video and to leave myself a little more buffer than I did on the trip to Le Mans this year.
Edited by RobbyJ on Friday 29th July 09:41
TheDeuce said:
paradigital said:
ashenfie said:
Wonderful trip and we all know Tesla is a good 5 years ahead of the chasing pack. I have to say the the suggested petrol saving figures seam implausible.The cost of the petrol show would give you around 3000 miles while £21 of electric would get around 225 miles maybe less?
He has free supercharging. The £21 of electricity is home and “other” charging destinations.The cost to someone without free supercharging would be vastly different.
I'd guess that with a decent charging subscription it would be around £300 electric cost without the free charging. Still significant.
TBH all other things being equal I'd have a model X over just about any other EV - obviously all other things are not equal and the cheapest X's seem to start in the high £60's, which is quite a chunk of change for a 4/5 year old car with no warranty (other than the remainder of the battery warranty). The previous being the case it does look, if we do go EV, that the Y is the way to go (as much as I don't like not having a dashboard)...
DodgyGeezer said:
TBH all other things being equal I'd have a model X over just about any other EV - obviously all other things are not equal and the cheapest X's seem to start in the high £60's, which is quite a chunk of change for a 4/5 year old car with no warranty (other than the remainder of the battery warranty). The previous being the case it does look, if we do go EV, that the Y is the way to go (as much as I don't like not having a dashboard)...
It is fair to say Musk really did look after the early adopters on the X - zero depreciation, zero SC costs.Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff